1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image pickup apparatus including a plurality of display sections for observing an image, and an image pickup method in the image pickup apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
There are some image pickup apparatuses, such as digital cameras and digital video cameras, including a plurality of display sections for observation an image, and such image pickup apparatuses sometimes include, for example, an electronic display section, such as a crystal-liquid display apparatus, for observing an image from a distant position without looking thereinto and an electronic viewfinder for observing an image by looking thereinto to see the image through, e.g., an eyepiece lens.
As an example of such image pickup apparatuses, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Publication No. 2004-173263 describes a digital camera including an electronic viewfinder for looking at an image therethrough and a crystal-liquid monitor that enables an image to be viewed from the outside, which are display sections for observing an image to be recorded or a recorded image. This digital camera is connectable to an external device via a connection portion such as a USB, and upon detection of connection to an external device, the mode transitions to a transfer mode, whereby display is switched from the electronic viewfinder to the crystal-liquid monitor to improve the convenience when the external device is connected to the digital camera.
There are various types of photometric schemes for AE control in image pickup apparatuses, and photometry is performed with different weights provided according to respective regions in a shooting view angle. In this case, for example, in automatic exposure control mode, generally, what is called center-weighted photometry in which a center of a screen is more weighted or photometry in which a region determined to be a main object is more weighted is performed. Therefore, upon occurrence of, e.g., change in shooting direction, change in position of the main object or change in shooting range by, e.g., zooming, a photometric value changes, resulting in change in brightness of the image shot under the AE control.
On the other hand, humans have a wide dynamic range of vision as well as a view field that is wider than a standard view angle of digital cameras, and thus, none of particular regions and main objects in the view field is more weighted for brightness adjustment, and even upon occurrence of, e.g., change in eye direction or change in positions of the main objects, there is almost no change in brightness observed.